The following letter appeared on a Facebook page this morning purportedly from a Mother. The words were so powerfully written that we decided they needed to be read.
Dear Mr Zimmerman,
I write this letter to you in hopes that you understand as a mom this situation has caused fear for me for every child on this planet. My children and their friends are young adults and are reaching the age where they are walking around on their own. My fears prior to this situation was that they would get kidnapped or harm would come to them in the form of a sexual predator. Now my fear is they will get shot and killed by a grown man who thinks they look like someone who has done crimes in our area. You getting away with this heinous act says to the world it’s ok to shoot and kill innocent people, innocent kids at that. You sir, have now made this world a more dangerous place for our children. You thought you were protecting the people. You were doing the opposite. You should have protected Trayvon from harm that night. You should have made sure he got home safe and protected him from the real criminals you were so actively looking for. I want to ask, what were you thinking? Do you feel remorse? You stole a life , a child’s life for no good reason. You can say you were attacked first. Trayvon was scared to death by you following him. If he did in fact hit you it was because he was trying to protect himself. He was fighting For his life. You sir, should be ashamed. If the police were so concerned about crimes in your area they would have been patrolling the area themselves. They weren’t though were they? And I highly doubt you would have approached Trayvon so aggressively if he was 6 ft tall and 300 pounds. I bet my life you would have allowed the authorities handle it.
I don’t want to make this about race but I do have a story to tell. The Area I live in is mostly white. I can count the amount of African American families on one hand. My dear friend( african american) lives by our neighborhood playground and has two young boys. A couple years ago when they were about 9 years old they were walking back from the park when a police officer stopped them. The officer asked “what are you doing around here?”. Their innocent answer was “we live right there”, as they pointed to their house. Their mother lives in constant fear that something like this awful situation will happen to her boys. She cries over it. I Cry with her. We have had many discussions about them getting profiled when they are driving, when they go to stores, when they live their lives so innocently. Why does she need to teach her children at such a young age that if you are stopped by an officer, or a stranger to put your hands in the air and say “yes sir, no sir” for fear of being shot? Because we live in a sick world. These boys, like all kids should be taught to go to the park and have fun and ride their bikes and play in the dirt and be kids. They should be taught to look both ways before you cross the street. They should not be taught to be careful how you dress because one might assume you are up to no good. They should not have to live in fear that they will be judged based on who they are.
I don’t know where to go from here but I do know that something needs to change. Out of this horrific, senseless crime there needs to be some good – if that’s even possible.
You stole the life of Trayvon Martin. He was a son to his incredible parents and now we all morn the loss of him. He became America’s son.
I ask you Mr. Zimmerman to give me an answer so I, along with the rest of the world can sleep at night knowing are children are safe to walk to a store to buy candy at night time.
–
Courtney Maslow